Everton suffered a poor result in the Europa League last night, with record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson among the disappointing performers.

There were eyebrows raised when Everton paid a club record £45 million fee to sign the Iceland international from Swansea City in the transfer window, but he has a solid track record in the Premier League.

Last season Sigurdsson scored nine goals and provided 13 assists for Swansea as he helped them avoid relegation.

Paul Merson believes that despite Sigurdsson's underwhelming performance against Atalanta, the attacking midfielder will prove good value for money.

Merson told SkySports' The Debate (14/9 10pm): "£45 million is a lot of money, but in this day and age when people can make things happen on the football pitch, I didn't think that was bad business."

Sigurdsson scored a spectacular goal on his Everton debut against Hadjuk Split, but has found it tough going since.

The Toffees have not scored in their last three games, and while part of that is down to their failure to properly replace Romelu Lukaku, Sigurdsson should be disappointed with the team's record.

Up next is a trip to Manchester United, where Sigurdsson had a decent record with Swansea City. It is the sort of game where he needs to step up if he is to start justifying his transfer fee.

Dan Coombs

Dan Coombs has been writing for HITC Sport full time since 2012 and has helped the website grow it's audience considerably during this period, while managing a team of writers. He has interviewed high profile names including Stuart Pearce and his work has been cited in Javier Hernandez's biography. In addition to football, Dan is a big fan of the NFL and NBA.